Australians are migrating to New Zealand in droves

A record number of Australians are fleeing to New Zealand in favour of taking up lives on rural properties while remaining central to metropolitan areas.

With more than 25,000 people having migrated over the past 12 months, the country is rapidly emerging as an economical powerhouse.

It seems the country’s unmistakable beauty isn’t its only draw card, with it also offering a plethora of appealing lifestyles opportunities, particularly for families seeking rural living close to the city.

A record number of Australians are fleeing to New Zealand in favour of taking up lives on rural properties while remaining central to metropolitan areas

Australians have become the country’s largest group of imports, which is no surprise given the country’s promising employment rate.

For the first time ever, there are more Australians migrating to New Zealand, than there are New Zealanders coming to Australia.

‘The more positive net migration flows in the last few years has coincided with a slight reversal of unemployment rates,’ Kim Dunston of Statistics New Zealand told Nine News.

‘So unemployment rates in New Zealand are currently sitting at around 5 percent, that compares with about 5.5 percent in Australia. If we go back five years, the New Zealand unemployment rates were slightly higher than Australia.’

The Craig family is just of the Australian families to have made the move across the Tasman Sea.

The Craigs live on a two acre block, ten minutes from New Zealand’s third largest city, Hamilton. (David, Kylie and Charlotte Craig pictured)

David and Kylie Craig, along with their three children, say they wouldn’t be able to enjoy the lives they do now had they of stayed in New South Wales.

They live on a two acre block, ten minutes from New Zealand’s third largest city, Hamilton.

‘To do that in Australia or to do that in Sydney you’re looking at an hour, hour-and-a-half outside of Sydney before you could even get close to anything like this,’ Mr Craig said.

The family are still close enough to Sydney to fly to their native home in a few hours should the need arise, which Mrs Craig said helped them choose New Zealand over Europe or America.

‘It’s much easier for us to get home to family and so forth, it’s much easier for us to be here,’ she said.

With more than 25,000 people having migrated over the past 12 months, the country is rapidly emerging as an economical powerhouse